Lately battery development has focused on creating a more efficient and longer lasting battery. Little thought has gone into how to make these battery dependent devices more efficient and ultimately suck down less energy. After all, a collaboration of both efforts would produce twice the results. Fortunately, a team of researchers from the University of Rochester, headed by Professor Hui Wu, say they’ve developed a circuit for use in cell phones and wireless devices that uses far less energy then today’s.

You’re probably asking yourself how does all this relate to battery life? Well, current wireless devices utilize a clock generated by a circuit called “phase-lock loop� which enables devices to communicate on exactly the right frequency. Although this “circuit� is just one of many culprits that sucks down vital battery juice – the transmitter and microprocessor eat more power – it is constantly on. The team’s new circuit, “Divide by Odd Number ILFD (injection locked frequency divider)� uses far less energy to transmit and reduces energy consumption to a radical 10%. 

Longer battery life for wireless devices? [Physorg]